AVATAR Blu-ray Looks Amazing (1 Viewer)

[Nick Martin]

Originally Posted by hampsteadbandit

a civilised Forum, is a civilised forum!

perhaps, a rare entity, in the wild west that is the internetz....

You should see soundtrack messageboards.

Anyway, since there are now several reviews up on various sites they all seem to have one thing in common:

The Video / Audio descriptions are very, very brief.

There's obviously a consensus that the disc is indeed technically perfect for the most part, and I'd have to guess that maybe there just isn't that much to say about it in great detail. It speaks for itself.

 

[FreyTheater]

Originally Posted by Adam Gregorich /forum/thread/299951/avatar-blu-ray-looks-amazing/30#post_3684392

 

It is funny tho, I love the movie. But I was born with ,"amblyopia" aka "Lazy eye", so I have poor stereo vision. So in essence I can't see 3D films well.

No big deal, but I do think it's funny that everyone is talking about 3D from gaming to films, and I will be totally left out. I guess all HDTV's will be 3D capable at some point in the future, I just hope I have an option to turn it off. :p

edit: Oh! I did get my copy, the UPS guy came by again after my work! I gave him a nice tip for his troubles!

 

[Douglas Monce]

Originally Posted by mattCR

Just so people can understand this:
Good BD's have an average weighted bitrate around 22Mb. "Avatar" has an average weighted of about 34; peaks at over 40! (40.8), and never drops below 25. The DTS-MA track is also near perfect. with it's base rate at near 3.6Mb, high rate of 5.2!

Both of these absolutely press the boundaries of spec. People had wondered how to equate this, and they had shrugged off "superbit" comparison, but I don't know of any other way. There is no title released that I can think of that carries even close to the bitrate. And a large number of titles that we think of as "good" that are encoded at around 1/2 the bitrate.

I'll have to sit down and watch through it tonight, but it is a very bare.. but very high quality, production.

Considering that Avatar was shot in a format that was already compressed, HDCAM, it has already been limited to some extent. So the super high bit rate is probably over kill for this particular movie. But it surely can't hurt to use all the space available.

Also Avatar was shot in HD (1920 x 1080) so assuming the transfer to IMAX was done correctly, the film should look identical at home to what you saw in the theater, 3D not withstanding.

Doug

 

[Douglas Monce]

Originally Posted by Edwin-S




It's just personal preference. I like the tighter framing of the 2.35:1 image when it came to anything involving intimate character interaction. I thought that in a lot of those shots all that extra head and legroom was just dead space and helped to reduce the impact of character expressions. I did think that the 1.78:1 framing helped all of the aerial shots and aerial battle action. In those parts the 1.78:1 framing was a definite improvement because it gave the scenes more of a feeling of depth. I have to say I kind of wish that he had gone the "The Dark Knight" route on this film: 2.35:1 for everything but the aerial action. I think that would have looked pretty good, because I tried it. Oh well, it's not to be. It still looks good. The all 1.78:1 framing just reminds me more of a TV movie than a theatrical film, especially with something as epic looking as this film is, but its his personal preference and I'm stuck with it.

I understand your preference and I know lots of people like that. However I'm not a big fan of the "chin to forehead" closeup. This kind of framing started in TV in the 1960's and made its way into movies big time by the late 70s and 80s. I much prefer older films that leave a little more space around the actors. With the way some of these movies are shot today, why bother to build sets when they are only going to be seen for 3 seconds in the master shot?

Doug

 

[Zack Gibbs]

Originally Posted by Douglas Monce




Considering that Avatar was shot in a format that was already compressed, HDCAM, it has already been limited to some extent. So the super high bit rate is probably over kill for this particular movie. But it surely can't hurt to use all the space available.

Doug

Well... the vast majority of Avatar wasn't 'shot' at all so I wouldn't agree here. I'm not entirely sure what the film was rendered at, but I'm pretty sure it was above HD resolutions, maybe 2k. I know I've seen some raw stills from the film posted on some CG forums, I'll see if I can find them.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Originally Posted by Zack Gibbs




Well... the vast majority of Avatar wasn't 'shot' at all so I wouldn't agree here. I'm not entirely sure what the film was rendered at, but I'm pretty sure it was above HD resolutions, maybe 2k. I know I've seen some raw stills from the film posted on some CG forums, I'll see if I can find them.

Good point. The DI is listed as being 2K, who knows what resolution the CGI was rendered at.

Doug

 

[Zack Gibbs]

Here's a still, it's 3508x1973 (effectively 2k). A couple of points, it's possible this was rendered higher just for the still, but I doubt it. Resolution isn't nearly as costly as it once was for rendering, and can be a much cheaper fix for things like aliasing issues than multi-sampling. Also, I believe this was for the original trailer, and is actually unfinished.

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/3782/avatarnewstills101full0.jpg

 

[Douglas Monce]

Originally Posted by Zack Gibbs

Here's a still, it's 3508x1973 (effectively 2k). A couple of points, it's possible this was rendered higher just for the still, but I doubt it. Resolution isn't nearly as costly as it once was for rendering, and can be a much cheaper fix for things like aliasing issues than multi-sampling. Also, I believe this was for the original trailer, and is actually unfinished.

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/3782/avatarnewstills101full0.jpg

Hard to tell. 1920 x 1080 upscaled to 2K looks pretty amazing, so who knows. Would be another good question for Cameron.

Doug

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Yes, it would be logical that they're the same. However, WB made unique DVDs of "Informant!" and "The Box" for those BD/DVD combos, so it's not out of the question that "Avatar" isn't the commercial DVD as well.

I suspect it IS, but I wanted to check, as I plan to run a review of it in addition to my BD review...

Originally Posted by Nicholas Martin




It would have to be, wouldn't it? Neither release has any bonus features, and it wouldn't make any sense to somehow make two different types/versions. The specs/quality should be exactly the same for both.

 

[Ric Easton]

Originally Posted by Omar Brown

It is funny tho, I love the movie. But I was born with ,"amblyopia" aka "Lazy eye", so I have poor stereo vision. So in essence I can't see 3D films well.

No big deal, but I do think it's funny that everyone is talking about 3D from gaming to films, and I will be totally left out. I guess all HDTV's will be 3D capable at some point in the future, I just hope I have an option to turn it off. :p

Omar, I have the same vision problem as you. On top of 3D movies not really working for me, I've also been a pretty bad catch and always blamed it on poor depth perception!! I could care less about the new 3D wave. I saw Avatar on a 2D screen and am perfectly happy with my Blu-ray. I am worried that at some point I won't have a 2D choice in the theater!

Anyway, watched the film again tonight with my wife (her first time) and I think I enjoyed the movie more on it second viewing. My complaint the first time around was the film's predictability. This time I just say back and enjoyed the amazing ride.

 

[Edwin-S]

Originally Posted by Nicholas Martin /forum/thread/299951/avatar-blu-ray-looks-amazing/30#post_3684272

 

[Nick Martin]

Originally Posted by Edwin-S

Thanks for the heads up on the CD and the download. It doesn't surprise me that a lot of unused music was created for this film; a person just has to look at the attention to detail in the visuals of the film. It suggests to me that the man would approach the creation of the score in the same way.

There was also an issue of having to record some cues twice - one being a "Horner" interpretation of a scene, and another being a "Cameron" interpretation. In terms of how representative the album is, here's a rundown to help:

1. 'You don't dream in Cryo...' - this opens the film and plays verbatim for the first six minutes.

2. Jake enters his Avatar world - the title says it all, and begins with everyone prepping the Avatar chambers, and plays with very minor edits throughout the whole sequence of Jake and Norm waking up as Na'vi, and ends with Jake running outside and enjoying that piece of fruit.

3. Pure Spirits of the forest - this plays after Neytiri saves Jake from the viperwolves, and plays through that whole scene almost unedited until Tsu'tey and his clan arrive. The music is different in the film from that point for a couple of minutes.

4. The bioluminescence of the night - easily the most beautiful piece of music on the album, this cue isn't in the film at all.

5. Becoming one of "The People", becoming one with Neytiri - the first half of this cue features a boy soprano's vocals, but in the film they are replaced with an exotic whistle. It plays as Jake narrates his experiences learning Na'vi with Norm, running and jumping with Neytiri and so on. The latter half of the cue isn't entirely in the film, but a similar alternate plays during the love scene. Therefore it's two separate cues fused together.

6. Climbing up Ikinimaya - The path to Heaven - the version on this album is not the version in the film, instead an alternate variation of the same music plays out as Jake and co. climb up to the valley of the Ikran - the banshees.

7. Jake's first flight - well, it's Jake's first flight on the banshee. In the film the climax of the cue is shortened, and this album version features a solo vocalist at the end, singing the same melody that would be sung later on by the Na'vi as they mourn their massive loss of Hometree. This solo vocalist segment of the cue is not in the film.

8. Scorched earth - This was one of the cues I mentioned as having two interpretations - a Horner and a Cameron version. The opening half of this cue is in the film, but the latter half is replaced by what would likely be Cameron's preference. It plays as the bulldozers arrive and nearly run Jake and Neytiri over. The point where Jake returns to his avatar and wakes up to see what's happening is the point where the music is changed.

9. Quaritch - this plays in truncated form in the film when Jake is given one more chance to ask the Na'vi to relocate, and ends with Quaritch's fleet arriving at Hometree.

10. The destruction of Hometree - it's the destruction of Hometree. Plays with slight edits but the title says it all.

11. Shutting down Grace's lab - this cue was used over and over again in the film, first for when Selfridge forces Jake and Grace out of their avatar chambers, and was re-used during the huge battle to represent the heavy losses. This is full of solo vocalists, in that harsh Gladiator / Troy style of singing.

12. Gathering all the Na'vi clans for battle - this plays during Jake's "this is our land!" speech, and plays through his journey to unite all the different clans throughout Pandora. There is a section that is very heavily edited in the film, ruining the rhythm of the music.

13. War - this cue begins when the chopper propellers fire up, as Quaritch's forces take off and move in to bring the Na'vi down, It is almost - almost - verbatim for the first six or so minutes in film/on album but the ending is replaced with music from different battle sequences not on the album. The resolution to the cue (11 minutes in length) is the music heard when Neytiri saves Jake from suffocating on the floor and subsequent evacuation of the humans, ending with Jake's last log entry.

14. I See You - this is obviously the end credit song, but in the film it's slightly softer with less in-your-face electronics, and is also shorter.

 

[hampsteadbandit]

I popped into HMV's flagship UK store in Oxford Street, London, this afternoon at about 5.30pm

but a little too late to catch actor Steven Lang (Colonel Q. from Avatar) signing BD and SD DVD copies of Avatar in-store, and shoppers having their photos taken against an awesome looking in-store Avatar set!

the set was still standing when I visited the store, and Avatar promotional banners and posters were literally plastered all over the store, with copies of the movie taking prominent place in the store


I then heard a manager saying to the staff "we have got to stop selling it now" as it was coming up to 6pm, and they had wangled a pre-release deal with the UK distrib. to sell Avatar to customers between 4pm and 6pm to tie in with the signing event

the movie is released in the UK tomorrow morning

I caught the movie being displayed in HD on a massive Sony Bravia 1080P panel in the BD section of the store, and was VERY impressed with the PQ - simply stunning!!

 

[oscar_merkx]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100425/film_nm/us_avatar

Four days after its release on DVD, "Avatar" is on track to become as big a movie phenomenon in home entertainment as it was in theaters.
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment said on Sunday that it sold 6.7 million DVD and Blu-ray units of the film in the United States and Canada since the discs were released on Thursday.


That amounts to gross sales of $130 million, making the film from the studio division of News Corp. the No. 1 home entertainment opening ever over a four-day period.

Fox said 2.7 million of its disc sales for "Avatar" came on Blu-ray, which is a newer technology that has a higher image quality than DVD but requires its own special player.

Pretty impressive numbers

 

[John Morgan]

[SIZE= larger] I got this yesterday. Had some folks over and put in the disc, and it informed me I needed a upgrade for it to play. I have a Pioneer Elite BDP-05FD and it seems I just upgraded it to Version 1.39 a few months ago. So I had to go to my computer and download the new version 1.65. So, from now on when I have friends over, I will check the playability beforehand. It took about 40 minutes to do this, so when I was downloading it, I ran Popeye cartoons.[/SIZE]

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by oscar_merkx

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100425/film_nm/us_avatar



Pretty impressive numbers

Yes, that's impressive that 2.7M BRD sold versus 4.0M SD DVD. The gap is closing as Blu-ray continues it's market penetration.





Crawdaddy

 

[Parker Clack]

I have an HTPC running Total Media Theater 3.0 Platinum and couldn't play the Blu-ray on the day I got it. At first I thought it was a bad disc but then went to Arcsoft's site and found that they had to write a patch so that it would play the disc.

This disc has now become my demo disc for friends coming over to watch a movie.

 

[Brett_M]

I watched this with my family last night. I have a 51" Sony RPTV, Panasonic BD-80 and an Onkyo 51. HT. Stunning viuals and sounds. I was most impressed with the detail on the image when Jake and Neytiri have their "you had me at hello" moment after he rides in on Toruk. The brightness of the image, coupled with the fine detail, blew me away. I have never seen a film look so good on my set-up. I think the film works very well in 2D at home. I was just as thrilled and emotional as I was in the theater the 3 times I saw it.

 

[FreyTheater]

Originally Posted by John Morgan ">[/url]

[SIZE= larger] I got this yesterday. Had some folks over and put in the disc, and it informed me I needed a upgrade for it to play. I have a